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- —U.S. Worker

EDITORIAL

The ‘public be damned’

n matters of vital concern to organized labor and the people

generally, the Bennett government and its big monopoly backers invariably resort to the pretext that whatever they do is ‘‘in the public interest.’’ In this Bennett and his cohorts take upon them- selves the omniscient powers of a Diety in determining what is, and what is not ‘‘in the public interest.”

Should Bill 33, the alleged progeny of MacMillan and Bloedel’s J. V. Clyne, — Bennett and Co. become ‘“‘law’’ that will be its key gimmick in the hands of a Socred diety; to determine at what point labor’s inalienable right to bargain collectively, to strike and picket, is “not in the public interest’’.. Having so determined with the ‘‘legal”’ authority of Bill 33, labor will be ordered back to work and take what the government and bosses say is ‘‘in the public interest’’. In short, to impose a canon of slavery upon labor under the pretext of serving the “public interest’’ (read monopoly interest).

On the Minister of Highways Gaglardi scandal, however, Bennett applies the soft pedal on the ‘‘public interest’ angle. The demand for a judicial inquiry, a royal commission or some such public inquiry into the Gaglardi mess would most assuredly be very much in the public interests. But nothing doing. High priest Bennett takes his fallen-from- grace apostle Gaglardi under his wing, portfolio and all, declaring “Phil has done no wrong — just a minor indiscretion’’, then gives his critics the old evangelic query “Brother, are you without sin?’’.

It may be recalled that Socred ex-Minister of Forests Robert Sommers, who got a bit involved in a spot of payola in his forest licences hand-out to big business, with the aid of Messrs. Bennett- Bonner et al, managed to keep that scandal in their “‘not in the public interest’’ cold-storage for well on to two years, before the public interest forced the issue into the open under public inquiry and Sommers consigned to oblivion.

Now a similar position is being taken by Bennett with regard to the Gaglardi stewardship, first by keeping ‘Flyin Phil’’ in the cabinet sans portfolio, and second by Bennett taking over that job himself — as an added assurance thet the “‘public interest’’ will not be made aware of all the facts, any r ore than it is on the rule-of-thumb financing as conducted by minister of finance W. A. C. Bennett.

The public have every reason to question these Socred occult powers of determining what is — or isn’t ‘in the public interest’’.

On the one hand its readiness, implicit in Bill 33, to declare labor’s rights and aspirations ‘‘not in the public interest’, while in the case of its defaulting ministerial incumbents, the ‘‘public interest’ be damned.

Somewhere along the line, and soon, the public interest will have to go to bat with this Socred omniscience with which its sanctimonious pulpiteers drape themselves in pious pretense. :

. MORE TRnops 8

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- Tribune

eS Coast edition, Canadian Tribune

Editor—TOM McEWEN Associate Editor—MAURICE RUSH Published weekly at Ford Bldg., Mezzanine No. 3, 193 E. Hastings St., Vancouver 4, B.C. Phone 685-5288.

Subscription Rate: Canada, $5.00 one year; $2.75 for six months. North and South America and Commonwealth countries, $6:00 one year. All other countries, $7.00 one year. Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash.

But Haven’‘t Given Up

Cam A L

Promoters defeated in Arbutus battle

By ALD. H. RANKIN City Council last week by a 6-4 vote turned down the application of Dominion Construction Company to build a regional shopping centre at Arbutus and King Edward. That vote to reject had my full support.

Those behind the shopping centre application were interested solely in their own financial gain.

The CPR owns the 38 acre site. For City Council to rezone this land from RS-1, a single family dwelling area, to CD-1, a comprehensive area, would have meant an immediate threefold or fourfold increase in land value for the CPR, from a present value of about $3 million to $10 million or more.

For Dominion Construction Company, the $20 million shopping centre meant a lucrative contract.

Woodwards and Simpson’s Sears would get the jump on their competitors in a profitable market.

_-The residents of the area were strongly opposed and for good reason. The whole character of their residential area would have been destroyed by the intrusion of this huge commercial complex. Many smaller merchants would be squeezed right out of business.

It was this determined opposition of the residents and voters that split the NPA on Council, and caused some of its members to vote against the shopping centre.

There are other good reasons for

turning it down.

No proof was presented that the residents of this area need or want

‘another shopping centre in their

midst. Oakridge and the downtown are quickly accessible to them.

Considering our present desperate housing shortage, this land should be used for housing, preferably Garden apqrtments, to provide another 500 or more much needed units.

The application to rezone this area was in effect a demand for ‘‘spot’”’ zoning; a demand that Council reverse its policies to suit special interests without regard to its commitments to the residents of the area, or an overall plan for city development.

The shopping centre would

B.C. MEETINGS FOR KASHTAN

“The Crumbling Dollar — Are We Heading for a Crash? will be the subject on which William Kashtan, national leader of the Communist Party, will speak during his upcoming B.C. tour.

Kashtan, who recently returned from the Budapest meeting of Communist and Workers parties, will speak at the following centres:

VICTORIA — Sat. April 6; 424 Skinner St. at 8 p.m. SURREY— Sun. April 7, 2 p.m. in Dell Hotel banquet room; VANCOUVER — Sun. April 7, 8 p.m. Stry Union Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave.; KAMLOOPS

— Mon. April 8, 8 p.m.; VERNON —

Tue. April 9,:8 p.m. Elks Hall.

generate a huge volume of new traffic in the area, requiring expensive additions topresent roads and high maintenance costs. These, together with the many other services which the city would have to supply — water, sewer, police and fire protections, etc. — would quickly eat up the estimated $650,000 in taxes that would be paid by the shopping centre. The city would end up subsidizing the project.

The promoters were defeated but they haven’t given up.

“We're not licked yet,’ said H. Clarke Bentall, president of Dominion Construction, ‘‘at the appropriate time and place we are prepared to restate our position to Council.”’

When and where will this “appropriate time and place’’ be? After some further pressure has been brought on NPA aldermen who voted against the project, to make them realize the error of their ways?

Or will it be left until after the December civic elections when the Establishment hopes to have a majority on Council from its new civic political party TEAM?

UJPO TO MARK GHETTO RISING

In honor of the 24th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the many millions of people who suffered at the hands of Nazism during World War II, the United Jewish Peoples Order will officially open its Commemoration Photo ‘Mural Exhibition on Wednesday, April 3rd, 1968 in the Peretz School Auditorium, 6184 Ash Street (off 45th and Cambie) at 8:30 p.m.

This photo mural display consists

of sixty 2 by 4 foor panels illustrating —

events in and around the Warsaw Gheito and how they relate to events in today’s world. Many of the photographs shown have not; been seen here before and are uniquely mounted.

This display will remain open as follows: April 4th — Noon until 10:00

p.m.; April 5th — Noon until 6:00 .

p.m.; April 7th — 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Kashtan on gold crisis

‘We're victim of U.S. war policy’

“The illusion’ that Canada would be the beneficiary, not the victim of U.S. aggression in Vietnam has been swiftly dispelled by the: gold and currency crisis’’*,’ William Kashtan, National Leader of the Communist. Party stated at a public meeting in Welland House, St. Catharines, on Sunday, March 24th.

Kashtan went on to say that, “U.S. aggression with its financial and material drain on the U.S. economy has more than anything else, contributed to the currency crisis. It may lead before too-long to devaluation of the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar also, to a disruption of world trade and the real danger of a capitalist world economic crisis. Its effects would be disastrous for Canadians, both in jobs and living standards.

“Tt should now be obvious even to the Pearson Government that one way of protecting Canada from the consequences of U.S. aggression in Vietnam is to dissociate our country from it. Instead the Government keeps on trying to find reasons why it should continue to make blood money out of the sale of arms to the U.S.A.

“Even from a strictly economic point of view Canada stands to lose from continued support of U.S. policy. But there is more to it than that. U.S. policy in Vietnam. has reached a dead end. There are only two ways open for it now. Hither more and more escalation with its attendant dangers of spreading war, or a peace settlement

which President Johnson re-

jects.

“This is yet another reason why Parliament should not only call for an end to U.S. bombing but dissociate Canada from this criminal and genocidal war. Recently President Johnson called for quarantining the

aggressor. One could not agree’ -more. Both he and his dangerous policies need to quarantined for

they constitute a danger to all of mankind,” Kashtan concluded.

CRUMBLING

ITS EFFECT ON YOU HEAR

WM. KASHTAN

Nat'l. Leader, Communist Party of Canada

SUNDAY — APRIL 7 — 8 P.M. STRY HALL

125 E. 8th Ave., Vancouver ALL WELCOME AUSP: VAN. CITY C’TTEE., CPC.

RAEI PME SCH ra ate Smart